Q142818

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

7 February 1935

Named after

Niels (discoverer's grandson)

Alternative designations

1935 CQ · 1940 WH, 1951 AL · 1953 VO 1 , 1959 RA · 1963 WE

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner )

Observation arc

89.52 yr (32,697 days)

Aphelion

2.4170 AU

Perihelion

1.9593 AU

Semi major axis

2.1881 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.24 yr (1,182 days)

Mean anomaly

240.21 °

Inclination

0.7301°

Longitude of ascending node

127.86°

Argument of perihelion

308.86°

Dimensions

6.394 ± 0.091 , 6.566 ± 0.063 km , 8.18 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

9.976 h , 19.2 h

Geometric albedo

0.20 (assumed) , 0.2154 ± 0.0284 , 0.227 ± 0.017

via Wikipedia infobox